Tamworth migrants in need of further English skills asked to get in touch

Living in a country without knowing at least the basics of the local language can be difficult, organisation founder Eddie Whitham says, and he wants to help migrants develop.

"Without learning English they're totally left out on their own and that leads to exploitation and a whole range of things that could go wrong," Mr Whitham said.

"With employment, the boss and the person who's working need to be able to understand each other well for safety and wellbeing.

"If everyone in the community has good English, that means everyone benefits from the whole thing."

More than 20 migrants from Vietnam, Taiwan, Myanmar, China and Nepal are currently being tutored out of the Tamworth Regional Library by members of Multicultural Tamworth.

Read also:

The organisation has been running this tutoring since 2017.

One such tutor is Lynden Treneman, who said lessons were available for beginners all the way to those who might be completing official English tests at high levels.

She's a retired English as a second language teacher who volunteers her time.

"For raw beginners the essentials are how to give your details, how to tell your story, how to talk about your family, how to ask questions," Ms Treneman said.

"The other end of the spectrum is preparing for IELTS (International English Language Testing System). This covers four macro skills - speaking, listening, reading, writing.

"This is general newspaper-level language so that they can participate in the community and further study entry-level work as a year 10 graduate would."

More tutors are needed to help the migrants, too, and Ms Treneman said it was an "extremely rewarding" experience.

"Some people are terribly grateful because coming to an English class is improving their confidence and wellbeing," she said.

"You're aware of their gratefulness and the other thing is some of them are very fast learners, driven, and its very exciting to be energised as well by their drive and excitement to be living in a new country."

Mr Whitham encouraged those who needed help or had the skills to help to come forward.

"We need to find out who is lacking [in English skills], what needs are there and what is our proposition for the government or the council or those institutions that teach English, what can we do?" he said.

"It's the most important single thing in the community other than health because without one they can't get the other."

Those wanting to get on board can contact Multicultural Tamworth by leaving their name and phone number at its office in the library, by sending an email to multiculturaltamworth@gmail.com or by texting 0478 230 299.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: